Trevor Story’s run at perfection has fallen just a bit short.
The Red Sox shortstop was 31-for-31 in stolen bases this season entering Wednesday’s game against the A’s. Then, the unexpected happened: Story was nabbed while trying to steal second base in the bottom of the eighth.
Thus the longest American League streak of consecutive stolen bases to begin a season was over. Story’s 31st steal, which came Tuesday, was one more than Carl Crawford had for the 2009 Rays during his consecutive steals streak to begin a season.
The only player with more consecutive successful stolen-base attempts to start a season since 1951 (when caught stealing was first tracked in both leagues) was the Cardinals’ Vince Coleman. He recorded 44 successful steals before he was first caught in 1989.
This has been a resurgent season for Story, who has paired his career-best 31 steals with 24 homers, his most since 2021. But with Wednesday’s denial, Trea Turner remains the only player to register at least 30 stolen bases without being caught over the course of a full season. He did that for the Phillies in 2023 as part of a streak of 41 consecutive steals from 2022-24.